One of the most beloved movie epics of all time, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabits hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride - featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura - seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

All-new restored, high-definition digital transfer
Commentary by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Donald Richie and more
Commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck
50-minute making-of documentary, "Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create"
Two-hour conversation between Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima
New documentary, "Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences"
Theatrical trailers and teaser
New and improved English subtitle translation
Essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Kenneth Turan, Sidney Lumet and more

OH MY GOD.

WHEN LORD WHEN?!?

Last edited by Nordling on Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

SEVEN SAMURAI is my favorite film of all time. I think it's the best film ever made. And at last it seems to have been done justice.

I'm pre-ordering this as soon as it comes available, and I will spare no expense making sure this arrives first-day mail, hand delivered, by a Japanese UPS guy if possible. He'll nod with approval as I rip open the box, and scratch himself Mifune-style as he walks away.

So I have to buy this majestic film again??? No worries, its worth it. Often
imitated, never even come close to duplicating, the master, AKIRA KUROSAWA.

Oh, and the Weinsteins must die; if that remake ever actually sees the light
of day, I figure its okay to kill them. I have dibs on the brains; less filling,
tastes great; the braindead culturally vapid Weinsteins!

One of the most beloved movie epics of all time, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabits hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride - featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura - seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

All-new restored, high-definition digital transfer Commentary by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Donald Richie and more Commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck 50-minute making-of documentary, "Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create" Two-hour conversation between Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima New documentary, "Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences" Theatrical trailers and teaser New and improved English subtitle translation Essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Kenneth Turan, Sidney Lumet and more

"The movie is set in 1586. We learn during the scroll scene that the real Kikuchiyo was born in year two of the Tensho era (1574) and is now 13 years old. Japanese convention considered a child to be one year old when he was born and advanced his age one year each new year."

Unless the samurai used a different calandar, this movie is in the 16th century. The firearms could be a technical mistake by the prop/historical research department on the film.

but at first, i thought you might be right, because i could have sworn they hadn't pioneered the brynner robot until somewhere around the mid 19th century. after the decline of the tokugawa dynasty.
its crazy, the tricks memory plays on us.

If only there was some feature on the site to let people know of great dvds like this coming out each week. Someone make it happen.

Just opened it. Everything is nice about the exterior, except for the art on the discs themselves. Kinda lame. I know. Its just the label on the disc. Who cares. But anything would have been better than the just the new Criterion C logo covering it with the title in very small letters near the middle ring. I just looked at my Kicking and Screaming dvd and it has the same Criterion C logo covering the disc, but it also has the title covering it in the same design as its shown on the cover.

Nord, I picked it up a few weeks after you told me about it and you're 100% right. Its magnificent! I have to say, Kurosawa is one of those guys (like Bob Dylan) who just completely intrigues me. I can rewatch docs about him over and over as well as his movies.

I need to give this movie another try. I have no problem with older films or foreign films or whatnot...enjoy them all quite alot. But I've never made it through Seven Samurai w/o falling asleep. I've honestly never understood the hype around it.

The Ginger Man wrote:I need to give this movie another try. I have no problem with older films or foreign films or whatnot...enjoy them all quite alot. But I've never made it through Seven Samurai w/o falling asleep. I've honestly never understood the hype around it.

i could've been up for 3 straight days, stoned out of my gourd whilst chewing on xanax and drinking warm milk, but if you threw the Seven Samurai on the tele, just seeing the initial scroll would jack me awake enough to make it the next 3 and 1/2hrs.

and i would love every second of them.

I've never understood why people just didn't stop making movies after the Seven Samurai, or why we don't digitally beam this film into every nook and cranny of the universe. I've never seen (film wise) a finer testament to our very humanity.

Cretin.

Personally, I'm an atheist in the voting booth and a theist in the movie theatre. I separate the morality of religion with the spirituality and solace of it. There is something boring about atheism.

Hey, in this case I'm willing to place the blame on myself rather than the film. Obviously it holds something dear for many people and has a huge place in film history. And who knows, maybe the 2nd half is this ballistic, non-stop, action-packed, shit storm where seven samurai defy both God and Man in history's most stunning display of ass-kickery. But fuck if I know. Cuz that first hour? Zzzzzzzzzz

Why couldn't Kurosawa have made it more like A Bug's Life? It really would have helped.

The Ginger Man wrote:And who knows, maybe the 2nd half is this ballistic, non-stop, action-packed, shit storm where seven samurai defy both God and Man in history's most stunning display of ass-kickery. But fuck if I know. Cuz that first hour? Zzzzzzzzzz;-)

i know you're kinda joking and all, and I'll admit, the first 20-25minutes are kinda dull, but then Kurosawa begins the character development, little epiphanies and gestures that, at first glance, appear to be tossed off moments of niggling import, until the (admittedly slow) accumulation of those intercommunication's becomes just what most every other action film strives for yet rarely attains, empathy...empathy for the situation the characters find themselves in, empathy for their lot in the rigid hierarchical society the participants (often bafflingly, through no fault of their own) find themselves in. Kurosawa takes the masters dictum of "show, don't tell" to the nth degree, and, obvious stan that I am, the results are spectacular. You feel each and every death, each sacrifice, in all part due to the foundation that Kurosawa so painstakingly took the time to lay bare.

And hey, funny to boot. The interactions amongst the samurai are a riot. Building up individual characters is one thing, but a group dynamic? NEVER has Kurosawa's achievement in this regard been topped.

Really dude, caffeine-up, smoke a bowl, sit down with the 'lil lady (mine adored it, fuck she even got mad when I took a cig break before disc 2) and watch the master (still my pic for best director ever!) at his best.

Personally, I'm an atheist in the voting booth and a theist in the movie theatre. I separate the morality of religion with the spirituality and solace of it. There is something boring about atheism.

Tell ya what, KCBC. This Xmas break (or soon thereafters), I'll give it another shot. A complete, watch the whole thing, shot. You understood I was joking, admitted it starts off kinda dull (which few people would say about a film like this), and you explained it's appeal in a way I can respect (i.e. Not saying "It's like the greatest movie ever and you just gotta see it you know?!?").

So give me about 2 weeks time and I'll watch your Seven Samurai. Then I'll come back here and give you my full opinion.

Though I still think Kurosawa missed a great opportunity to have the samurai fight talking grasshoppers.

I have a similar affliction with the movie. The first time I watched the movie was at an annual Asian film festival held once a year that always plays Seven Samurai. I loved the movie and I always catch it when it plays again, but I can't sit down and watch it on T.V. It feels too busy with all the guys bunched up and the sweeping motions don't have as much resonance. It's just that movie though. I watch Rashomon and Ran and Yojimbo all the time on my crappy 20 inch T.V. I don't know what cinema's like in most places, so I can't recommend going to a theatre to watch it, but maybe find someone with a bigger TV and the movie might have more of an impact.